President Paul, call your office

Two juxtaposed items on Instapundit (this blog is, after all, part of Glenn Reynolds’s comments section) — unintentionally, it seems:

DAVID FREDDOSO: “Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) ended Guy Fawkes Day having done something no Republican has ever done before. He raised almost $4 million over the Internet without spending so much as a thin dime (beyond transaction fees, of course). This sort of thing just isn’t done.”

posted at 08:46 AM by Glenn Reynolds

OH NOOO: “What do the Democrats do if–yes: if, if, if–the surge appears to have succeeded?”

Monthly death tolls were highest in the first part of the year: 83 deaths in January, 81 in February and 81 in March. Numbers peaked in the next three months, with 104 deaths in April, 126 in May and 101 in June.

The numbers have dropped from that level since — with 79 in July, 84 in August, 65 in September, 40 in October and 11 so far in November.

Hmmm….and from the article you cited.

The noticeable drop in U.S. and Iraqi deaths in recent months follows a 30,000-strong U.S. force buildup, along with a six-month cease-fire order by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, among other factors. There were 39 deaths in October, compared to 65 in September and 84 in August.

Now do you just limit yourself to reading the titles only, or do you actually read the articles?

The TNR article raises a crucial point about the decline in deaths: the cease-fire from al-Sadr. Most honest observers would suggest that is the main reason the chaos has wound down — not the surge. But the bottom line is still the same: the surge was meant to be the handmaiden to political reconciliation. And that hasn’t happened.

So the surge is a failure. Iraq has ceased to be, for all intents and purposes, a nation. Entire cities have been ethnically cleansed. Religious fanatics have imposed a theocracy more extreme than Iran’s. Thugs and militias rule the streets and neighborhoods. The central government has flatlined. I think the best we can hope for is to point a really big gun at everyone while we back s-l-o-w-l-y towards the door.

Crazy to believe that maybe Sadr put down the weapons at the prospect of thousands of additional American troops breathing down his neck.

Crazy is your word, not mine.

But since you brought it up, I have to say that it’s finally come down to this: we’re reading al-Sadr’s mind and hoping for the best? Reminds me of Bush looking into Putin’s eyes and getting a sense of his soul.